A Forum for Orthodox Jewish thought on Halacha, Hashkafa, and the social issues of our time.

Monday, September 19, 2016

East Ramapo – Revisited

Guest Contribution by RYS

Some members of the East Ramapo School Board as constructed last year

Just over a year ago, in June of 2015, I had written post about
the optics of an Orthodox Jewish majority running the East Ramapo Central
School District. They were democratically elected by an electorate that is
predominantly Orthodox. At the time I said
that they had done nothing wrong in executing their duty and that the problems of
underfunded public schools in that district were probably sourced in a flawed state allocation
formula.

But I also said that ever since the school board had come to
consist predominantly of Orthodox Jews, the perception of a flourishing Jewish
parochial school system versus an underfunded public school system just looked
bad – even though there was nothing untoward going on. Which is why I chose the title of that post to
read: Sometimes Being Right – is Wrong.

The following is a response to that post and many of the comments
based on subsequent developments. It is authored by RYS, a frequent commenter
here. RYS grew up in and is part of the Charedi community in the New York area; and attended traditional Yeshivos both in the US and Israel. He learned in Kollel for a number
of years and has spent the last 30 years in a variety of positions in Jewish
communal service. I know his identity and have had many email correspondences
with him. He currently has an important communal position, and is a passionate defender
of the Charedi world (albeit a bit over the top on occasion). Even though we occasionally disagree, I respect his views. His words
follow:

First I would like to thank Rabbi Maryles for this
opportunity. Full disclosure we have has a lengthy correspondence over this
issue for the last few days, when he was kind enough to offer me a guest post
to elaborate. Being how much pride Rabbi Maryles takes in his blog, taking
great care that all posts both his own and guest ones are of the highest
quality, I will do my best to live up to those standards.

For the last few years there has been lots of talk both in
the general media, as well as here on Emes V’Emunah about the East Ramapo
Central School District (ERCSD) in a suburb about 30 miles north of New York
City in Rockland County. It is an issue that has aroused passions on each side,
has been debated endlessly in the New York State Legislature, and was recently
a major issue in a local election.

For a brief background, the village of Monsey, NY (which is
part of the town of Ramapo) has been transformed from a sleepy hamlet 50 years
ago, to a major Orthodox Jewish population center with Greater Monsey now including a number of
surrounding towns including Spring Valley, Wesley Hills, New Hempstead,
Concord, Forshay, Pomona and others. It is teeming with shuls , yeshivas,
shopping and all other amenities, and includes two exclusive incorporated all
Chasidic villages.

As with any group, these new residents began using their
democratic rights and involved themselves in the political system. And this
included the most local of all, elections to the local school board. And in due
time the orthodox/Charedi representatives became a majority of the school
board, which was roughly in proportion to their share of the population.

As the orthodox population grew, the Board was faced with a
major dilemma. In NY State, schools are funded in two ways. One is through
property taxes, which is why more affluent suburban areas generally have better
schools, as their tax revenue is higher. Whatever is not covered by property
taxes, the state makes up the shortfall. However the state formula is based on
the number of children enrolled in the public schools in each district. This is
what caused the dilemma in ERCSD. Although there are about 25,000
schoolchildren in the district, only about a third attend public schools, as
the vast majority attend yeshivas and other private schools. This consequently
caused major budget shortfalls.

At the same time there are certain services that are state
mandated for every child whether they attend public or private schools,
including special education, remedial services and others. And so the Board
either had to deny children their state mandated services or cut back in non
essential areas of public schools like music sports etc. The cuts also included
selling unused buildings as the public school population dwindled. Some of these cuts were painful, but with
perennial funding shortfalls the board had no choice.

It didn’t take long for ugliness to ensue. Parents of public
school children accused the democratically elected board of favoring the
yeshiva children over their own and unfortunately many of these accusations had
anti Semitic innuendos. The ERSCD was hit with a lawsuit accusing the board of
depriving their children of a proper education, and the local elected officials
got involved. One Elllen Jaffee a local assemblywoman even questioned on the
floor of the New York State assembly if the orthodox Jews were legitimate
voters as seen in this video.

As a result of this vitriol, calls were raised for an
independent monitor with veto power over the democratically elected board.
Thankfully the State Senate had the good sense to realize that such a monitor
would be a blatant violation of the will of the local voters.

This month New York State held primary elections for the
state legislature. Ms. Jaffee was up for re-election and was opposed by many in
the orthodox community due to her antagonism towards those voters to whom she
questioned their legitimacy. At the same time in a neighboring district, Aron
Wieder a former School Board president, and currently a member of the Rockland
County legislator ran in the Democratic primary. If successful , Mr. Wider
would be the first Chasidic member of the New York State Legislature.

Once again the election brought out the usual complaints
against the orthodox community. In an op ed in a local publication called the
Rockland Voice,
one Jeff Gillies in responding to an exhortation by Mr. Chaskel Bennett, a trustee of Agudath Israel of
America urging people to vote with the quote “If You don’t vote you don’t
matter”, wrote:

The deeper problem in Rockland County is that the
ultra-religious sects for whom Mr. Bennet is working seemingly hold a belief
that the electoral victories of their community comes with a license to trample
the rights of the minority. This belief is the antithesis of everything our
founding fathers worked to achieve, but it is also the simple truth of the
matter.

So according to Mr. Gillies, voting for what you believe and
for your rights is the antithesis of the founding fathers. Pretty strong
words. And in a video postedon a Facebook page, Ms . Jaffee’s opponent Tom Gulla was lampooned as a
creation of the “bloc”, while Aron Wieder was viciously caricatured as a member
of the Taliban.

For the record both Ms. Jaffee and Mr. Wieder prevailed,
although Mr. Wieder still has a Republican opponent in November.

On a blog post here a year ago last June dealing with this topic, Daniel Schwartz, a frequent commenter here, and a former president of the
school board (who is not Charedi) was harshly attacked in the comments
section primarily by an avowed atheist, using the moniker Rational (sic)
Thinker, one who voluntary refrained from commenting here when the moderator
placed him on permanent moderation due to his inability to keep his atheistic
opinions off the blog. To his credit Mr. Schwartz refused to engage in any
substance, just simply stating that the matter is before the courts and he will
fight his battles there.

Well…the courts have spoken. As reported in Hamodialast week a federal
appeals court upheld the right of the ERCSB board to fund yeshiva programs and
that there was no harm done to public school parents. It is particularly noteworthy
that the judge in his decision recognized that the underlying problem stems
from an underfunded system.

In addition the state, recognizing the issue
here has allocated an additional $3 million specifically earmarked for the
public schools which is greatly alleviating the underlying problem.

In light of the
above, I believe a retraction and apology is in order for all those who
questioned the veracity of this school board.

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About Me

My outlook on Judaism is based mostly on the teachings of my primary Rebbe, Rabbi Aaron Soloveichik from whom I received my rabbinic ordination. It is also based on a search for spiritual truth. Among the various sources that put me on the right path, two great philosophic works stand out: “Halakhic Man” and “Lonely Man of Faith” authored by the pre-eminent Jewish philosopher and theologian, Rabbi, Dr. Joseph B. Soloveitchik. Of great significance is Rabbi, Dr. Norman Lamm's conceptualization and models of Torah U’Mada and Dr. Eliezer Berkovits who introduced me to the world of philosophic thought. Among my early influences were two pioneers of American Elementary Torah Chinuch, Rabbis Shmuel Kaufman and Yaakov Levi. The Yeshivos I attended were Yeshivas Telshe for early high school and more significantly, the Hebrew Theological College where for a period of ten years, my Rebbeim included such great Rabbinic figures as Rabbis Mordechai Rogov, Shmaryahu Meltzer, Yaakov Perlow, Herzl Kaplan, and Selig Starr. I also attended Roosevelt University where I received my Bachelor's Degree - majoring in Psychology.